Exterior Painting: Understanding Why Estimates Vary

WHY DO EXTERIOR PAINTING CONTRACTOR’S PRICES VARY SO MUCH?

There are many changing factors that go into an exterior painting estimate. For starters, each home or business varies in shape, size, and difficulty, and the materials were used to build your home or business. The finish of the exterior of your home can require additional time and materials used to get the job done correctly. See our blog post on How Long Does Exterior House Paint Last? For me details surrounding the exterior finish of your home.

Exterior Painting Estimate Cost Vary

While many people attempt to tackle home interior painting themselves, the task is often more challenging when you’ve got to paint the outside of your property. With that in mind, many homeowners prefer to have a professional tackle exterior painting jobs for them.

Suppose you’re currently requesting prices from different contractors, or you’ve recently done so. In that case, one thing you’ll have noticed is that one exterior painting estimate can vary, sometimes wildly, from the next! The following reasons illustrate why that’s the case:

Image Credit: 27707 (Source: Pixabay).

Math might not be their strong point

Have you ever noticed how sometimes an exterior painting estimate looks appealingly cheap compared to other estimates? On some occasions, the reason could be that the contractor is new to the market and wants to make a name for themselves.

Because of that fact, they’ll give what they think are temptingly low estimates, but they seldom make any profit on the jobs. Other times, the reason may be due to poor math skills. They might be good at painting, but terrible with numbers!

The trouble with such estimates is you could soon find yourself with ‘extra’ costs to pay because they ‘forgot’ to add them to your estimate. In reality, their poor grasp of math has made them look silly in front of you - their customer.

Doing Big Business Right = More Overhead Cost

Larger firms that have dozens of painting and decorating contractors could end up giving a higher-than-average estimate. The main reason is simply due to higher overhead costs compared to sole painters or smaller 2-3 man businesses. A top-rated professional exterior painting company that has trucks and a building and who pays their taxes has workers' compensation to protect their people and has general liability insurance to protect your home, will have way more overhead than a small-time painter who paints with him/herself and or had one guy working with them. Big companies have to pay extra costs for their staff, tools, work vehicles, insurance, and so forth. Ultimately, a portion of those additional business costs will get passed onto customers in the form of higher-than-average interior painting estimates.

Are They Applying Two Coats or One

The first reason we see a difference in pricing is what is included in the painting estimate. One company includes 2 coats of paint, another includes 1 coat. A lot of times you need 2 coats because of color changes, or because the surface is so dry it requires it. If they don’t spell out how many coats are in your estimate make sure you have them retype the bid up with it, never take their word for it.

Quality Paint Job - Do You Want A Good, Better, Or Best Paint Job?

The cost could also be affected by the level of quality you expected, a job done right is always worth the extra cost, unless you're just putting a fresh coat of paint on your property to sell it or rent it, its also best to invest in a better paint. With that in mind, what is the quality of paint the painter or painting service is going to use for your project? You see, just because a company says they are going to use Sherwin Williams and Benjamin Moore paint products, does not mean you’re going to get high-quality paint. Each paint manufacturer sells high and low-grade paints. The challenge with this aspect of your exterior painting bid is that many painters or painting contractors use lower grade paints that will not last more than 3-5 years. They do this because it helps keep the cost of their exterior painting estimate down making their price look sweet but leaves you wasting your hard-earned money. Here is a helpful resource for understating why it’s usually better to invest in quality paint. Don’t Gamble With Your Exterior Painting.

Inexperience

If a painting contractor is new to the industry, that doesn’t necessarily mean they aren’t good at what they offer. After all: many contractors start out working for other people. But why might they give customers significantly higher or lower-than-average exterior painting estimates?

The answer is usually down to their inexperience in estimating jobs. It takes time and experience to quickly determine how much a job will cost and what profit needs to get made from the project.

As you might expect, such inexperience will hinder new contractors for two reasons. Firstly, they could be making a considerable loss, and secondly, they could be making a large margin. In either case, they are in danger of pricing themselves out of the market.

How to choose the best exterior painting estimate

When reviewing each exterior painting estimate, there are some techniques you can employ to choose the right one. Firstly, it’s worth questioning the quote. How many coats of paint get used? Is the paint premium-quality or budget-grade? And what preparation will get done?

Secondly, ask for testimonials so you can decide for yourself the quality of their work. And, thirdly, follow your gut instinct; if an offer sounds too good to be true, it’s usually the case!

If you’d like a fair and accurate exterior painting estimate from A New Leaf Painting, contact us today at (904) 615-6599.